Willamette Weekend: Boxing Outside of a Bar, Portland’s Best New Bands and 10 Other Things to Do and See in Portland, March 16-18

Puerto Rican pop warrior Frankie Simone, Afro-centric soul magician Amenta Abioto and spacy R&B duo Brown Calculus play our annual showcase of the city’s top emerging acts.

Amenta Abioto. IMAGE: Abby Gordon.

Friday, March 16

Kells Smoker
Want to watch Irish people and American people beat the tar out of each other, in celebration of the greatest of Irish-American holidays? The Kells Smoker amateur boxing competition comes but once a year, in a tent by Kells Irish. There will be blood. (Actually, there probably won't be.) Kells Irish, 112 SW 2nd Ave., 503-227-4057, kellsportland.com. 7 pm. $30. 21+.

Pop-Tart Pop-Up
To benefit the American Civil Liberties Union, coffee and wine blog Sprudge will be hosting a Portland Pop-Tart Pop-up. With, like, a whole bunch of flavors of Pop-Tarts and really good coffee from Smalltime Roasters. Sprudge, 3640 SE Belmont St., sprudge.com. 10 am-3 pm.

NW Dance Project
NW Dance Project has a knack for adapting classic stories into evocative, engrossing modern dance. This time, its source material is Ibsen's feminist tragedy Hedda Gabler. That alone would be worthwhile, but it's sharing the bill with another world premiere by Barcelona choreographer Cayetano Soto. Newmark Theater, 1111 SW Broadway, nwdanceproject.com. 7:30 pm. $34-$58.

Matthew Dickman and Emily Strelow
Of Oregon's most famous twin-brother poets, Guggenheim winner Matthew Dickman is the more approachable one, with softer edges to his oblique verse, who grew up in a Felony Flats neighborhood where "men happen to the women/and the women happen to the children." Emily Strelow's debut novel takes place not in the urban wilds but the actual wilds of the Northwest—a multigenerational novel its jacket describes as being "alive with birdsong and gunsmoke." Anyway, they'll both be hanging out at Powell's. Powell's City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 503-228-4651, powells.com. 7:30 pm. Free.

Saturday, March 17

Angela Bassett in Strange Days (courtesy of imdb.com)

WW's Best New Band Showcase
The future of Portland music looks and sounds much different from what came before. Puerto Rican pop warrior Frankie Simone, Afro-centric soul magician Amenta Abioto and spacy R&B duo Brown Calculus play our annual showcase of the city's top emerging acts. Read the features on all of this year's winners hereMississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 503-288-3895, mississippistudios.com. 9 pm. Free. 21+.

Rebuilding Small Territories
Two decades ago, hundreds of women displaced by conflict in Colombia decided to build their own town. Mexico's Teatro tells their story through a half-lecture, half-theatrical performance, in which they construct a miniature replica of the city out of cinder blocks and photographs. The Headwaters Theatre, 55 NE Farragut St., 503-404-2350, boomarts.org. 7:30 pm. Through March 18. $20.

Shadowlands, Daydream Machine, The Orange Kyte
Veterans of various Portland punk and garage bands, the musicians in Shadowlands took their time developing their new project, exploring various sonic themes before landing on their ominous and melodious brand of post-punk. That patience pays off on the upcoming 002, a mature and foreboding collection of songs befitting the tumultuous times in which we currently find ourselves. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., dougfirlounge.com. 9 pm. $10 advance, $12 day of show. 21+. Read our feature on Shadowlands here. 

Strange Days
When it was first released in 1995, Kathryn Bigelow's sci-fi noir about an illegal dealer of VR experiences was a box-office flop. But now that its bleak futurism seems more and more like an impending reality, its been reclaimed as a cult classic. 5th Avenue Cinema, 510 SW Hall St., 5thavecinema.com. 7 pm. $5.

Sunday. March 18

(courtesy of IMDB)

Shamrock Run
Run off your St. Patrick's Day hangover in anything from a 5k to a half marathon—or just partake in festive activities like bagpipes, kilts and, of course,
a beer garden. Tom McCall Waterfront Park, shamrockrunportland.com. 7 am-1 pm. $15-$95.

Persian New Year at Rally Pizza
In Iran, the new year starts in spring. The 'Couv's best restaurant, Neapolitan-style Rally Pizza, is ringing in Persian New Year with Maysara wine and Persian foods, from kuku sabzi herb omelets to turmeric-fried fish and lamb pizza. Entrees run $11 to $18. Rally Pizza, 8070 E Mill Plain Blvd., Vancouver, Wash., 360-524-9000, rallypizza.com.

Labyrinth 
As a kids movie, the David Bowie-Jim Henson creation is  slightly terrifying. As a campy movie for weird adults, it's bizarrely entertaining. Mission Theater's late night singalong screening comes with a cocktail inspired by the movie. Mission Theater, 1624 NW Glisan, mcmenamins.com/mission-theater. $2 for 2:30 pm show, $4 for 5:30 pm and $11 for 9 pm show. 9 pm screening is 21+.

Love, Simon
In coming-of-age, coming-out movie, 17-year-old Simon Spier's (Nick Robinson)  sexual orientation is a secret warily kept from his parents (Jennifer Garner and Josh Duhamel), although an email correspondence with an anonymous gay teen who calls himself "Blue" inspires Simon to try to kick down the closet door. Based on the young-adult novel Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, Love, Simon is a romantic comedy that recalls John Hughes at his peak. Various showtimes at Bridgeport, Cascade, Clackamas, City Center, Division, Eastport, Living Room, Lloyd Center. Read our full review here

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